Dreaming of traveling to Italy but don’t know what the cost to travel to Italy will be? I will break down each group of cost and explain how I did Italy for two weeks for $2500. This trip I was not on a super tight budget, you could do Italy for a lot less and a lot more than I did. All of these prices are based on my two week itinerary and what it cost me to travel to these places.
Accommodations
Accommodations are an area in your travels that you can either spend very little or a lot for luxury. If where you sleep is not high on your priority list, hostels are your cheaper option and roughly cost €18-30 euro per night while a private hostels rooms can range between €50-100 euro a night for a room. If you’re like me and like to stay in hotels, a 2 week stay in Italy will cost you about $800 usd for a cheaper hotel room. I also like to book all of my accommodations through Booking.com, they make it very simple and give what they call “genius” discounts on certain accommodations to individuals who book through them often. Most importantly for me, all of my bookings are all in one place! This makes it very simple to keep everything in order.
Food
The average cost for a meal in Italy will vary between where you are in the country. The typical price for breakfast can be anywhere from €2-10 euro. A tip for breakfast is to try to book an accommodation with breakfast included or go to the local bakery and get a delicious pastry. Almost all of our accommodations had continental breakfast and if they did not I always opted for a quick bite and coffee at a local cafe.
Lunch will typically run you anywhere from €5-20 euro depending on what you are looking for. If you go for tasty street food you can keep that cost low at around 5-8 euro. Dinner will run you a little higher anywhere from €15-40 euro depending if you get a glass of wine. All of these prices will depend on what you order and the restaurant so make sure to shop around and look. Your more popular places like Amalfi Coast, Venice and Milan will typically be priced higher. However, that does not mean you can’t find some really great street food or even a cheaper restaurant, you just have to shop around even at these locations. Of course the best option for saving money is buying your own food at a market or shop and cooking it yourself. Depending on what you get, it can cost as cheap as 4 euros per person.
Transportation
The easiest, cheapest, and most convenient way to travel between cities in Italy is by train. One of the most popular railways is known as RailEurope. RailEurope is personally our favorite to go through due to their timeliness and customer service. How to buy train tickets in Italy is very simple and can be done online or in person at the train station. Almost all places have a train station that can take you to your chosen destination and the cost to get between cities depends on the distance and the demand for that ticket. For example, a ticket from Rome to Venice starts at €45 and the most expensive i’ve seen is €160.
For getting around through the cities there are typically 3 options, by bus/subway, taxi or walking. A simple taxi ride will depend on how far you are trying to go, for example, to go from the Rome train station to a hotel by the roman forum you are looking at around €20-30 depending on traffic. Whereas if you take the bus/subway it is *insert cost of bus*. The cheapest option is always going to be walking or taking the subway. Almost all places in italy have some kind of public transportation whether that is a bus or a subway system. Either way both options are relatively cheap.
Activities
One of the most popular activities to do is a wine tour, this can cost €50-150 euro depending on the experience you want. Most museums and sightseeing entrance fees cost between €9-30 Euro. A gondola ride in Venice will cost €80 per gondola and Pompeii entrance fee is €11. Activities is one of the easiest ways to drive up the cost to travel Italy, but, there are a lot of activities to choose from, it’s best to know your budget and narrow down what is most important.
Budget
For a backpacker’s budget you can expect to pay €40-60 euro a day. For this suggested budget, this is if you stay in shared hostel rooms, eat street food or cook your meals, see a few paid attractions, and use local transportation to get around.
If you have a mid-range budget, you will need to prepare between €120-140 euro a day. This budget range will get private rooms or Airbnbs, being able to eat out more, see more paid attractions, and faster travel such as taxis or high speed trains.
Lastly if your budget allows you to have a luxury budget of €350+ euro a day. This allows you to stay in top rate hotels, eat at nice restaurants for every meal, do any activity you want, take private tours, and fly from city to city. Since Italy has so much to offer, the sky is really the limit when it comes to how much you could spend. The more places you visit and the more activities and fancy dinners you attend will drive up the cost.
The cost to travel Italy is ultimately up to how you budget your expenses. There are a lot of ways to save money in each aspect of your trip, from doing the tons of free attractions to staying in hostels. If you have any question, let me know down in the comments.
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